About Ireland...

2006 Result
History (1956 to 2005)
This year's entry
What I predicted...
What you thought...
What actually happened...
What the bookies thought...

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2006 Result

Points in Semi Final: 79
Position in Semi Final: 9th

Points in Final: 93
Position in Final: 10th
More about the 2006 result for Ireland

2007 Contest: Directly qualified to Final

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History (1956 to 2005)

Ireland's previous appearances: 39 year(s) out of 50 [note]
Years participated: 1965-1982; 1984-2001; 2003- [note]
Best result: 1st (1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996)

With 39 appearances, Ireland has appeared at Eurovision the same number of times as Portugal and Finland, but with a rather more impressive record to show for it. The country has won an incredible seven times, twice with entries performed by Johnny Logan - the only artist to have won Eurovision more than once. Unsurprisingly, Ireland's record is better than any other country - France, Luxembourg and the UK are the next best, with five victories each, none of which - on recent form - are likely to challenge Ireland's tally just yet.

Amazingly, Ireland won four contests in five years during the mid 1990s, with songs performed by Linda Martin ('Why me?', 92), Niamh Kavanagh ('In your eyes', 93), Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan ('Rock 'n' roll kids', 94), and most recently with Eimear Quinn and 'The voice' (96). While all secured easy victories at the time thanks to the votes of the national juries, none really appeared to command much support among the public or Eurovision fans - a situation that may well have precipitated the demise of the juries in favour of televoting since 1997. In hindsight, I still find 'Why me?' to be mawkish and old-fashioned, but 'In your eyes', 'Rock 'n' roll kids' and 'The voice' have stood the test of time well, and are maturing into Eurovision evergreens. Nevertheless, Dana's 'All kinds of everything' from 1970, and Johnny Logan's two songs from 1980 and 1987, 'What's another year' and 'Hold me now', probably remain Ireland's best known winners among the public at large.

Since its last win a decade ago, Ireland's fortunes have suffered a remarkable downturn similar to that of the UK. Though 1997's 'Mysterious Woman' came a clear second to Katrina and the Waves, 1998's entry by Dawn stalled in (what was in Irish terms) a disappointing 9th place, while 1999's song finished 17th, giving Ireland one of its lowest ever placings. 2000's 6th place provided a brief respite from the gloom, before 2001's entry, 'Without your love' scored a miserable 6 points - probably 6 more than it deserved - and 21st place. For the first time, Ireland suffered the indignation of being relegated and had to miss the 2002 contest all together. With a great deal of pride riding on 2003's comeback, Mickey Harte's 'We've got the world', finished 11th, just enough to secure Ireland's direct place in the 2004 Final, but a far cry from the country's success of old.

As Eurovision has embraced new countries and musical styles, some would claim that Ireland's recent entries have sounded increasingly old fashioned; equally, with the free language rule since 1999, Ireland seems to have suffered from no longer having the automatic advantage of performing in English. This was ably illustrated by the Irish entry in 2004, Chris Doran's dismal 'If my world stopped turning' only missing out on 'nul points' because the UK inexplicably awarded it 7. On the plus side, 2005's effort managed to score rather more points than that, with Donna and Joe giving a valiant performance of 'Love?' in the Semi Final. However, its 14th place was not good enough to gain Ireland a place in the Final, meaning that the country must once again take part in the Semi Final in 2006.
Get 'The Eurovision Song Contest: The Offical History' at Amazon.co.uk

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This year's entry

Position in Semi Final draw: 8
Position in Final draw: 21

What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"With Ireland having to buck up its ideas in order to secure a good result at Eurovision, broadcaster RTE's announcement of Brian Kennedy as the internally-selected Irish participant was a welcome one. After three years of selecting the Irish Eurovision entry via the 'You're A Star' casting show, it was probably time for a change - that show might have proved effective at raising interest in Eurovision among Ireland's younger population, but it had certainly disappointed in terms of delivering results at Eurovision, partly due to the inevitable inexperience of the chosen performers, and the difficulty in matching them with a suitable, high quality song. Brian Kennedy, of course, has no such problems, with a string of hit singles and albums to his name, including his guest vocal on the original Secret Garden version of 'You raise me up'; and more recently, a No. 4 hit in the UK with a live version of the same song, having given a very poignant performance at the funeral of football legend George Best.

To select the Irish Eurovision song, RTE held a competition for songwriters, selecting what were supposedly the best four (or three, when one of them was belatedly disqualified for being previously released by another artist) to be performed by Brian on a special edition of Pat Kenny's 'Late Late Show', with viewers then televoting for their favourite. The winner - 'Every song is a cry for love' - was by far the best of the three on offer, due in part, I think, to it being written by Brian himself. RTE provided a superb quality webcast to allow non-Irish viewers to watch the show, and I certainly got the impression that Brian seemed much more comfortable singing his own composition than those by other composers.

As for the song, it's really rather good, and certainly the best Irish entry for many years. As you would expect, the song is a gentle ballad, with a tempo and melody not unlike 'When a child is born', or the 1979 Israeli Eurovision winner 'Hallelujah'. However, where those songs slowly build to a rousing finale, the one quibble with 'Every song is a cry for love' - certainly in the original version - is that while it provides a very pleasant three minutes, it doesn't really go anywhere. The version for Eurovision has been beefed up, and this has certainly improved ir further. However, even listening to the revamped song I keep expecting it to build to a more rousing finale, yet it never comes. In short, it is a rare beast - a song that is crying out for a Eurovision key change but hasn't currently got one.

Of course, it is no sin for a song to be gentle, and it may not matter on the night - Latvia's song from 2005 was similarly simple and gentle, yet did well enough to finish 5th in the Final, and both songs share the quality of being very appealing and instantly memorable, despite the lack of significant oomph. In Brian Kennedy, the Irish also have another crucial ingredient - probably the most experienced and polished performer that the country has sent to Eurovision for many, many years, even if he isn't as visually appealing as last year's Latvian boys. All this ought to bode well for getting Ireland out of the Semi Final, but the online polls, feedback and betting all suggest that Brian will have his work cut out - Irish qualification seems no more likely than it did this time last year, when the country's song and performers were much less highly regarded. Indeed, in the Soult.com Eurovision Jury Vote 2006, even the UK voters - normally a reliable source of points for Ireland, regardless of the song - currently place the Irish entry outside their top ten in the Semi Final. As for whether Ireland can notch up an eighth victory, Brian will be hoping that his song avoids the fate of the seven previous Irish entries that have ever featured the word 'love' in the title (most obviously last year's 'Love?'), none of which have managed to win."

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What I predicted...

My prediction for Semi Final: 12th to 14th
My prediction for Final: Possible qualifier
See all my predictions for the 2006 Semi Final
See all my predictions for the 2006 Final

What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"Performing straight after Belgium's uptempo entry in the Semi Final, Ireland's song will certainly contrast with the one performed before it - whether this is beneficial or not to Ireland I'm not yet sure. What a disappointing preview video, though - it's as if RTE couldn't afford to film a whole three minutes, so they awkwardly spliced some newly recorded scenes of Brian wandering around Ireland with footage of his original performance on the 'Late Late Show'. As for the song, it's very nice. Will it qualify? I'm not sure. It's a solid effort, much better than most other Irish entries of the last decade, and almost universally enthusiastic reports from rehearsals suggest that Brian does sell it extremely well. Much will therefore depend on whether people at home rate the song, but in a competitive field I fear it may just lack the extra lift that would propel it into the Final. If it does make it, it will surely be thanks to Brian Kennedy's experience and strength as a live performer."
Want an alternative prediction? See Simon Hylands' 'Je t'adore, Eurovision!' site

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What you thought...

View the final leader board

In the run up to the Contest, 1,721 visitors to this site awarded points to their favourite songs in the Soult.com Eurovision Jury Vote 2006, voting as a representative of their own country's 'jury'. The votes awarded by representatives of each country were totalled, with each of the 38 participating countries (plus the 'Rest of the World') then awarding points - 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 - based on the overall voting preference of its representatives. The points awarded to the entry from Ireland are shown in the tables below:

Points awarded to Ireland overall:
AL	0	HR	0	GR	0	MK	0	PL	0	ES	0
AD	0	CY	0	IS	0	MT	0	PT	2	SE	0
AM	0	DK	0	IE	X	MD	0	RO	0	CH	0
BY	0	EE	0	IL	0	MC	0	RU	0	TR	0
BE	0	FI	0	LV	0	NL	0	CS	0	UA	0
BA	0	FR	0	LT	0	NO	0	SI	0	UK	0
BG	0	DE	0	WO	0	Last updated: 18 May 2006 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 2, from 1/39 juries
Position: 35 out of 37

Points awarded to Ireland in the Semi Final:
AL	0	HR	0	GR	0	MK	0	PL	0	ES	0
AD	0	CY	2	IS	0	MT	4	PT	7	SE	0
AM	0	DK	0	IE	X	MD	1	RO	0	CH	0
BY	0	EE	0	IL	0	MC	0	RU	0	TR	0
BE	0	FI	0	LV	0	NL	0	CS	0	UA	0
BA	0	FR	0	LT	0	NO	0	SI	0	UK	0
BG	0	DE	0	WO	0	Last updated: 18 May 2006 Next scheduled update: None
Total points: 14, from 4/39 juries
Position: 21 out of 23

Points awarded to Ireland in the Final:
AL	0	HR	0	GR	0	MK	0	PL	0	ES	0
AD	0	CY	0	IS	0	MT	0	PT	0	SE	0
AM	0	DK	0	IE	X	MD	0	RO	0	CH	0
BY	0	EE	0	IL	0	MC	0	RU	0	TR	0
BE	0	FI	0